YASHER KOACH — Monday night Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy celebrated its 50th anniversary with a grand event at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. The night was dedicated to the founders, alumni, educators and supporters who created and implemented a vision for a Jewish community day school.
A great moment in the program occurred when Head of School Howard Haas invited the founders who were able to attend to stand and be recognized along with members of the first graduating class, other former students and HBHA alumni in attendance as well as faculty and staff.
The honorees, Blanche and Neil Sosland, were introduced by Henry Bloch, whose foundation — The Marion and Henry Bloch Family Foundation — was the 2015 Civic Service Award honoree. During the award presentation, it was touching to see granddaughter and HBHA junior Leah Sosland, holding the award being presented to them. Neil opened by saying, “We have been blessed by God Almighty to celebrate this anniversary.” He noted that while he and Blanche were being honored, it was a team effort of all the founders and Hyman Brand to get the school up and running, and it also would not have happened without the others before them who tried and failed to create a Jewish school that eventually paved the way for the Hebrew Academy.
In her remarks, Blanche referred to the fact that her parents left Germany in 1934. One thing her mother always told her, which had a profound effect on her, was “education is one’s most valued possession since no one can take that away.” That’s one of the reasons Blanche, who is an educator by trade as well as a mother and grandmother, said she selfishly worked so hard to get the school up and running as she wanted a good solid Jewish and secular education for her children. Each of their five children subsequently graduated from HBHA and the Soslands have 10 grandchildren who have or will graduate from the Jewish day school.
Everyone raved about the Vaad-supervised kosher food catered by Lon Lane and everything they say about the wonderful sound in Helzberg Hall is absolutely true. The special performance by the Kansas City Symphony, directed by Michael Stern, was fabulous. It could by my imagination, but I noticed the maestro dancing a bit while conducting two special klezmer pieces. Stern was joined on stage by special guest, clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein, a Soviet Jew who lived in Israel for 14 years before moving to New York to train at Julliard.
In his opening remarks, HBHA’s Haas pointed out the school is one of the oldest K-12 Jewish community day schools in the country and stands strong, poised for an exciting future. As I spoke with a few of the founders that evening, I was reminded how they struggled to get funding and accreditation those first few years, as well as support from the community. Today the school has grown more than 600 percent in size from the original 33 students who enrolled the first year. It was evident by the 750 or so supporters who attended the event, as well as the $860,000 raised by the annual fundraiser, that the school now has that support its founders fought so hard to get.
As is the case with all such big events, it took an army, led by co-chairs Pella Fingersh and Marcia Karbank, to make the event happen. For those of us in attendance, it was an evening to remember.
SevenDays: Make A Ripple, Change The World — Thursday, April 14, marks the second anniversary of the horrible tragedy in the Jewish community where three innocent people — none Jewish — were killed by an anti-Semite on the grounds of the Jewish Community Campus and Village Shalom. SevenDays: Make a Ripple, Change the World was created to bring something good from that horrendous event. Mindy Corporon, whose son and father wers killed that day, will be speaking at Congregation Beth Torah tomorrow night and the second annual Peace Walk, which culminates with an event at the Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, takes place on Monday night. If you haven’t participated in one of these events that began earlier this week, consider attending one before the week is over. Last year was heartwarming and I expect this year to be even better.